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A new species of the genus Mesobiotus is described from the Republic of South Africa using a traditional morphological approach (light and scanning electron microscopy) combined with molecular analysis (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS-2 and COI markers). Mesobiotus anastasiae sp. nov. differs from all known Mesobiotus species by having a unique combination of characters of the adult animals and the eggs. Adults of the new species have an oral cavity armature without elongate teeth in the second band, while the processes of the egg chorion have a basal collar and distinct rows of large pores. An updated key to the species of the genus Mesobiotus, including 66 of 70 currently described species, is given. An aquatic mite species from the Lobohalacarus weberi complex (freshwater Halacaridae) co-occurs with M. anastasiae sp. nov., suggesting that the newly described tardigrade inhabits constantly wet moss cushion habitats.
An integrative redescription of Hypsibius pallidoides Pilato, Kiosya, Lisi, Inshina & Biserov, 2011 was undertaken following a reexamination of the type material and new material using highquality light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and methods of molecular taxonomy. Detailed morphological investigations revealed a unique complex of characters that precluded the attribution of this species to the genus Hypsibius Ehrenberg, 1848. Furthermore, phylogenetic analyses indicated the affi nity of this species within the subfamily Pilatobiinae (Hypsibiidae). Notahypsibius gen. nov. is erected for H. pallidoides and two putatively related species: H. scaber Maucci, 1987 and Ramazzottius arcticus (Murray, 1907). An emended diagnosis for the genus Pilatobius is given, while the subfamily Pilatobiinae lacks a cohesive morphological diagnosis despite representing, at the same time, a wellsupported molecular clade. Obvious controversy between the results of the morphological and molecular analyses of the phylogeny of Hypsibioidea is discussed. The distribution of morphological characters such as the claw type, organization of the bucco-pharyngeal apparatus, and egg shell sculpture type within Eutardigrada is analyzed and their phylogenetic signifi cance discussed.
In this study we analyze the calcarean sponge diversity of the Adriatic Sea, the type locality of some of the first described species of calcarean sponges. Morphological and molecular approaches are combined for the taxonomic identification. Our results reveal six species new to science and provisionally endemic to the Adriatic Sea (Ascandra spalatensis sp. nov., Borojevia croatica sp. nov., Leucandra falakra sp. nov., L. spinifera sp. nov., Paraleucilla dalmatica sp. nov., and Sycon ancora sp. nov.), one species previously known only from the Southwestern Atlantic (Clathrina conifera), and three already known from the Adriatic Sea (Ascaltis reticulum, Borojevia cerebrum, and Clathrina primordialis). We confirm the presence of the alien species Paraleucilla magna in the Adriatic and again record Clathrina blanca, C. clathrus, and C. rubra. We emend the description of the genus Ascaltis, propose a lectotype for Borojevia cerebrum and synonymise B. decipiens with B. cerebrum. A checklist of all calcarean species previously and currently known from the Adriatic Sea (39 species) is given. The Central Adriatic is indicated as the richest calcarean sponge fauna sector; however, the biodiversity of this class is underestimated in the whole Adriatic Sea and new systematic surveys are desirable.